Château Lynch Bages has made a crackingly good, highly rated 2023 down in price by 34% from last year making it the lowest priced Lynch on the market. When we all tasted it in Bordeaux at the end of last month we were very impressed with its elegance, vibrancy and intense rich berry fruit flavours – this will be a great Lynch Bages if you are able to get some – Liv-ex again says ‘if you are lucky enough to get an allocation’…
Lynch Bages has been under the stewardship of the legendary Jean-Michel Cazes who sadly died last summer, with him at the helm the Estate has become one of the leading wines of Pauillac with a global following. A tribute to a great man.
“Blackberry, black cherry, crushed stone and graphite. Lead pencil, too. It’s full-bodied with juicy, chewy tannins. Vertical and layered with lovely length. Quite plush. Chewy tannins at the end. Cabernet sauvignon driven. Showing excellent potential.” 97-98 points, James Suckling
“A Lynch Bages that speaks more to the property’s style than it does the vintage, this is a deep, shiny purple in the glass and has a powerful, black-fruit laden nose. Hints of nutmeg and liquorice come through, but the purity of cassis here is very impressive. Broad-shouldered on the palate, this is a dense, chewy vin de garde that will need at least a decade in bottle before approaching. Powerful, ripe yet never overblown, this is the essence of Pauillac, vertical, spicy and impressive. A wine with a real sense of place, this is a brilliant example of this château’s unique style. Superb.” 96-98 points, Thomas Parker MW
“Concentrated, intense and muscular, not a word that I have used very often in 2023 Bordeaux. You get a deeply-rooted tannic grip, with soot, squid ink, cassis, blackberry, bilberry, liqourice root, slate scrap, pummice stone and mint. Lynch Bages seems to be wrought from a different place than it was a decade ago, impressive, powerful Pauillac, with an eye on long ageing. 75% new oak, Jean-Charles Cazes owner, Nicolas Labenne technical director.” 96 points, Jane Anson
“The 2023 Lynch-Bages is a dark, brooding wine. In so many vintages, Lynch-Bages is a wine of sensuality, but in 2023, it is quite the powerhouse. Formidable tannins wrap around a core of black fruit, spice, menthol, licorice and gravel. This is a somber, introspective Lynch-Bages with a ton of Cabernet Sauvignon character. I can’t wait to taste this from bottle. 2033-2073” 94-97 points, Antonio Galloni
“The 2023 Lynch-Bages takes some time to really settle, so I gave it 5-10 minutes in the glass. On the nose, glossy black fruit mixes with touches of cassis, graphite, violets and blood orange, perhaps demonstrating more horsepower than I anticipated. The palate is medium-bodied with fine, saturated tannins. There is a lovely symmetry to this Pauillac (not unlike Latour), armed with a cashmere texture and plenty of backbone on the finish, even though I would not describe it as a “grippy” Lynch-Bages. There’s plenty of graphite character on the aftertaste. Excellent.” 93-95 points, Neal Martin
“As usual one of the chunkier, broader-shouldered wines of the Médoc, the 2023 Lynch-Bages exhibits aromas of dark berries and cassis mingled with pencil shavings, licorice and pipe tobacco, framed by creamy new oak. Medium to full-bodied, rich and layered, it’s deep, concentrated and generously extracted, with plenty of youthfully chewy tannin to carry it along in the cellar. The 2023 is a blend of 71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot.” 93-95 points, William Kelley
